Some connections in football outlast the seasons in which they were forged. For Micah Parsons, Dan Quinn is one of them. Quinn served as the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator when Parsons was still playing in Dallas, long before the pass rusher made his way to the Green Bay Packers. Three years have passed since those days, yet the bond between the two remains meaningful to Parsons. That enduring connection may help explain why he is concerned about Quinn, who now leads the Washington Commanders as head coach.
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On ‘The Edge with Micah Parsons‘ in collaboration with Bleacher Report, he talked about the Washington-Giants game and how the Commanders’ quarterback Jayden Daniels ruined it all for the coach.
“Jayden Daniels probably cost my man Dan Quinn his job,” Parsons said. “To be honest with you. And, like, I’m a big Jayden Daniels fan. But the reality is, he probably cost a lot of people their jobs this past weekend.”
Why did Parsons bring the Washington Commanders’ quarterback into the discussion? To understand his comments, we need to revisit last Sunday night’s game between the Commanders and the New York Giants.
Jayden Daniels had a strong overall performance, recording 199 passing yards, 103 rushing yards, and two rushing touchdowns. However, his performance was overshadowed by a major game-management mistake at the end of overtime. The miscue cost the Washington Commanders a chance to attempt a game-winning field goal, and the game ended in a 27–27 tie against the New York Giants.
With less than a minute remaining in overtime, Washington recovered a Giants fumble and drove the ball to the New York 24-yard line. The Commanders had 12 seconds left and no timeouts.
Instead of making a quick throw toward the sideline or spiking the ball to set up a field goal attempt, Daniels rolled to his left. Rather than throwing the ball out of bounds, he turned back toward the middle of the field and scrambled.
As a result, Daniels was tackled in bounds for no gain with roughly two to three seconds remaining. With no timeouts left, Washington couldn’t get lined up and spike the ball before the clock expired. The Commanders never got another chance to run a play or attempt a kick.
Daniels also took five sacks against the Giants’ pass rush, struggling at times to get rid of the ball quickly behind Washington’s offensive line.
After the game, Daniels took full responsibility for the overtime mistake. He acknowledged that he had failed to communicate the clock and timeout situation effectively to his teammates in the huddle. However, that explanation did little to settle the debate.
Even Parsons made his position clear, saying, “This is your job to be prepared to understand the game and understand situations. That’s in your job profile, and you’re telling me, ‘Oh, we’re going to want to pay this guy eventually $60 million?’ This cannot happen.”
Throughout his comments, Parsons continued to emphasize that he was a big fan of Daniels. Still, he felt the quarterback’s mistakes had serious consequences for the team. However, not everyone agreed with Parsons’ assessment. Some believe the responsibility for the situation rested with head coach Dan Quinn rather than Daniels.
An NFL analyst sees things differently from Micah Parsons
Following the Sunday night game between the Commanders and the Giants, NFL analyst Chris Simms discussed Daniels’ late-game decision in the studio. Unlike Parsons, Simms strongly defended the quarterback and placed much of the blame on the coaching staff.
Simms said, “The head coach [Dan Quinn] has to manage the game. The head coach, who’s making probably $15 million a year, he has to go through the situation with his offensive coordinator, his quarterback, and tell you exactly what needs to be done. You can’t just think, ‘Hey, quarterback, drop back to back. If it’s not there, throw it away. Oh, oh, okay. All right.’
“Well, he didn’t throw it away. Now what? Like, there was just, it’s like they never practiced it. There was no contingency plan. This is one of the worst mistakes in the history of football.”
Also, since taking charge of the Commanders in 2024, coach Quinn has made regular meetings with team owner Josh Harris part of his routine. Speaking on Monday, Quinn said the two had met again, with little reason for celebration. It goes without saying that the team’s botched closing sequence had left everyone frustrated.
With Parsons and Simms offering different perspectives, the debate over who deserves the blame is likely to continue. Meanwhile, the Washington Commanders will look to move forward as they prepare to face the 49ers on Monday.